Update on Ali

It has been a very, very long time since I have spent any time on this blog. It is for no reason other than the fact that I have almost no free time. Work is very challenging and rewarding at the moment and if I am not working, I am trying to spend any spare minute I get with our children. Additionally, we have a few new computers so until I feel comfortable with them - they are all imacs - and get any free time on them (as the kids often like to get on and play) you just have to be patient.

This year I scored on mother's days. Back in Budapest, I was applicable for the American, British and Hungarian mother's days. Now, in the UAE, I have been given recognition on the UAE mother's day as well as the French mother's day so I am not at all complaining... Actually, I'm a bit embarrassed and hope Curt get's in a father's day soon even though America seems to be the only place where they may recognize this non-international holiday.

On Sunday (a school day in the UAE), I - and all the other school children's mothers - was invited to school for a little mother's day celebration with the kindergarten. I was so happy to visit and spend time with Ali's classroom. I took a 1/2 day off of work and skipped down knowing it would be great as she has been hinting about the event and practicing her songs for weeks. She is finally settled in nicely into school and finally getting a grasp on the language. It has taken her much longer than Terence and Mia but suddenly it has all CLICKED! I'm so pleased and relieved...

The little show was lovely. Ali's teacher, Anne, and the teacher's assistant, Benedicte, are both wonderful. We couldn't have been luckier with teachers for Ali. They are both gentle, sweet and nurturing. The perfect combination for a scared little kindergartener!

Unfortunately in all my excitement, I got the on / off record button reversed and didn't manage to get the entire show like I had hoped. I did manage to get a short clip which is below. However, first, I put up my 'interview' with Ali from yesterday evening. She is sooo cute!

Now a short clip from her class. Look at how anxious she is while waiting for the signal to hand over my gift. She is watching her teacher and waiting for her to say something about it. I was lucky to be front row on one of her classroom's tiny little chairs... It was a proud moment...

Pizza Making Ali

I now have a spare moment and thought I would try and give you an update on life so far in Dubai. First up is a recent photo of Ali (on 10/27) when she went with her class on a field trip to Pizzeria Uno in the Dubai Mall. They learned how to make pizza! What a fantastic outing for 20+ 4 year olds! Ali absolutely loved it and could not stop talking about making pizza. She has helped me at home make home made pizza but, as you can imagine, it's (unfortunately) not an event that we have regularly. Now that she has learned by the pros, maybe we need have a pizza making evening in the near future.

She was funny as she has told me a little bit about it every day. Probably because she remembers another small part of it each day. She made her own pizza, got her own hat (which she still has at home), and brought home a few slices to share. The thing she liked best was the fact that the pizza Uno team spoke to them in English and the teacher had to translate into French. In Hungary, it was obviously Hungarian. She understands Hungarian just as well as English but it's the first time she has ever been in a school atmosphere with English spoken so she thought it was fun.

One of the mom chaperons took this photo of Ali and sent it to me. I thought it was adorable. She looks very happy and comfortable. I have lots of school photos of Ali (from last year) where she maybe looking at the camera and smiling but she has an unsure look about her. Or, maybe it's just a bit of a scared or not so confident look. I'm pleased that she is settling into her new school and making friends quickly. It helped that she new a handful of friends already but none are in her class. This is actually a blessing in disguise as she is making friends on her own in her own class as well. The teacher always reassures me that she is very happy and socially active.

Life in Dubai, in general, is fantastic. The only disadvantage is that we are all SO busy. The kids are in school Sunday - Thursday from 8am - 1:45pm. I have only picked them all up once since they started about 6 weeks ago. We have our Hungarian babysitter here helping us as we are both working full time. She is not living with us but in a small studio apartment in town. I have managed to spend one afternoon alone with each child since the beginning of the school term. We try and organize a fun afternoon just the two of us. Ali went first and wanted to pick out new sheets for her new bed then have ice cream. It was so fun and we had a great time walking hand in hand together. We then popped into a great toy store called Hamleys (I've seen it in the UK so believe it is British owned) in the Dubai Mall and bought her some food for her play kitchen. While in there, she insisted on getting something for Terence and Mia. She is thoughtful like that and always wanting to get gifts for others.

On Mia's afternoon-with-mom, we went to get our toes and nails (manicure / pedicure) done together. It was fantastic. We sat next to each other and talked and giggled. She felt like such a little lady - something she strives for a bit too much. We took a walk and just enjoyed holding hands and talking about everything. She always has SO many growing-up questions and she really took advantage of this time and asked me 100s of questions. I was so happy to have the one-on-one time with her as she needed it so much.

Unfortunately, I had a 2 week period when I couldn't leave work early so Terence had to very patiently wait. Due to a conference and lots of trainings, meetings, I couldn't get out to have my afternoon with him until last week. It upset him so much but he stayed strong and waiting as patiently as he could. Unplanned, I managed to surprise him at school last week. It was so great to see his face. He tries to act so grown up and will not jump up and down or hug and kiss but he puts on a 'I'm too cool to have emotions' face. Once we got in the car, he just chatted away and was so happy! I felt guilty that he had to wait so long but thrilled to finally have the alone time with him. He is so incredibly mature and when I am alone with him I sometimes forget he is only 9 years old. He teaches me so much and is so smart. He reads and watches the news and absorbs so many facts that he is so interesting to listen to. When he asks questions, I cannot BS him at all. Maybe it's because he is the oldest, however, I think it is just who he is as well.

He was very uncertain about what he wanted to do alone with me. I think he was just happy to spend time together. He couldn't decide, however, he had been begging us to get a home computer as Curt and I only have our laptops which are always with us at the office. He misses having a computer at the house to play on.

Since it was on my to-do list, I asked him if he wanted to pick one out with me. He was so excited as he is a complete techie! I knew he'd been hoping for an iMac so off to the Apple store we went. He was so great in asking the store rep questions. Most of them went over my head. We asked her to hold the computer we wanted (last in stock!) while we thought it over and walked around. He wanted to get lunch (he didn't eat what I had packed him in his lunch box) so we went to one of his favorite spots: Yo Sushi. They send out the sushi on a revolving conveyor belt. As it goes by our table we pick out what we want to eat and pay for each plate piled up on our table. After lunch, he was STILL hungry. He eats so much these days! We went to see what other restaurants were around and he spotted his favorite: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. So off to Krispy Kreme's we went for his doughnut fix. From there we visited some video game spots, then to pick out a birthday present for a friend's birthday party he is going to next weekend and then back to pick up our iMac that Curt agreed (over the phone) to get.

Terence, in true Terence-style, commented about how much money we had spent. He is very money conscious and always converting the dirhams into dollars and working out how expensive things are. He sometimes makes us feel guilty when we spend but we explain that we both work hard so we can buy these nice things. We also tell him we are lucky as we had opportunities to have educations and careers that many people from different parts of the world never have.

Curt and I are also doing well. We are slowly settling into our new home which we really like. We are almost unpacked and once we get one more dresser, should be just about there. We only brought about 1/2 hours things so were in need of lots (ie beds, TV, fridge, stove, washer / dryer, rugs, lamps, etc). The items we did bring, fit in really well.

I will slowly start to post photos of our home soon.

More photos and videos are coming. I promise. x o x o

What I've learned in Dubai so far

We are starting week 3 soon in Dubai and so far, so good. Honestly, I really enjoy it. I was so ready for a change. Even though I left part of my heart in Budapest, for several reasons (mostly just relating to the country and it's lack of advancements and improvements) we were ready to spread our wings and fly.

Luckily, we have a really adaptable family. We've always traveled frequently with our kids and since we are such a close family unit, we travel and settle well together.

Since we have been here, this is what we have done and what I have learned (in no particular order):

1. Arabic is written from right to left.
2. Arabic TV is boring (Curt always refers to it as Falcon hunting as this seems to be a popular sport televised on Arabic TV often).
3. The kids (and Curt and I, too) are loving fresh squeezed drinks and getting spoiled with them as they are offered everywhere.
4. I have not cooked much at all since we arrived as we are still in a temporary serviced apartment. However, it is still easy to get great fresh veggies, hummus, sushi, etc for healthy dinners and snacks. We have also had Papa Johns and Pizza Express pizza deliveries.
5. There are prayer rooms everywhere.
6. It has been over 40 degrees C every day since we've been here.
7. Driving here drives me crazy mostly because of the constant construction and lack of GPS capabilities.
8. It is incredibly diverse and international. I love hearing so many languages everywhere. The kids are tired of Curt and I constantly asking and / or trying to guess where people are from.
9. My three kids have all ended up with excellent teachers - all seem to fit their personalities really well. Terence has a young, male teacher and Mia and Ali both have very lovely, young female teachers.
10. The kids have already all made friends at school, which, I am sooo happy about.
11. I've signed all the kids up for activities but have only signed myself up for dragon boating. Still would like to find a good tennis league and resume golf again at some point. I have my tennis gear and golf shoes but the clubs are in our container (will arrive in about 2 more weeks or so).
12. I cannot find a proper Apple store but have found thousands of electronics stores selling Apple products.
13. I have only been in my bathing suit in the sun 1 day as we never have a spare moment! I thought I would have had a few lazy, poolside afternoons by now but will catch up on that when things start sliding into place.
14. We've changed our minds about neighborhoods 100 times. If we didn't have kids, I would so be living on the Palm. However, our kids wanted more of a community and now we are looking elsewhere. We hope to have signed on a rental property by the end of the week.
15. Curt shouts here just as much as he shouts in Budapest (it's usually customer service related).
16. Having a Friday, Saturday weekend is so confusing. I was on the phone with my US bank today and couldn't work out why they couldn't provide me with a normal business hour service. It was Sunday! A work day for me but not for others.
17. We bought a car today! A Toyota Sequoia so that is one step closer to settling in / down...
18. Our new car will have 2 built in cooler boxes - 1 in between the 2 front seats and 1 in between the middle seats. There is a 3rd row that seats 3.
19. Even though Curt may find certain things frustrating, he has been incredibly sociable in the pool, in the mall, everywhere. We are meeting so many people already and trying to increase the numbers of our upcoming house warming party! The list is growing!
20. We have been up to the top of the Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world - on the night before school started for Terence and Mia. We had made a promise to Terence to go up before school began. The lift took us to floor 124 in 60 seconds. Our ears popped and my knees wobbled while up there...
21. The kids have take a pack lunch every day in a cooler box with a ice freeze thing (you put in the freezer overnight and stick it in with their lunch / drinks so it keeps cold).
22. Terence and Mia are taking their first golf lesson tomorrow.
23. Ali is obsessed with swimming and has swam probably every day (except for today) since we have been here.
24. Mia made a good friend at school today who takes ice skating lessons indoors at the Dubai Mall (largest mall in the world).
25. I have never seen so many fancy cars - Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Ferraris, etc. Terence is learning them and pointing them out to me as I cannot tell the different usually.
26. I cannot get used to so many people (in the office, in stores) calling me Madame.
27. The kids said they are boring as they only speak 3 languages and most of their classmates in Dubai speak more than 3 languages!
28. We found a French tutor already. His first evening was today and it went better than I expected.
29. I drink more coffee here but from familiar chains like Starbucks and Costa Coffee.
30. The other day a Costa coffee attendant came up to my car while we were pumping our fuel. I was so excited to be able to multitask: fill up car and get an iced latte!
31. I'm really enjoying the longer opening hours of so many stores.
32. Mia went down the Leap of Faith - killer water slide - at the Atlantis' hotel's Aquaventure Park. I'm so impressed with my very brave 7 year old!
33. I miss our dogs (and cat) so much!

I promise to post the kids' back to school photos shortly....

Warmest Regards, the Clements Family in Dubai x o x o

We are in Dubai

Well, we have relocated. We arrived to Dubai on Thursday, Sept 2nd. It's day 2 in Dubai and I have 2 amazingly restful nights after 1 week of insomnia due to lists, packing and lots of responsibilities and very little free time. So, here we are! In Dubai!

Yesterday evening after our last afternoon swim, Ali asked me, "ma, how long will we stay in Dubai this time?" I smiled and thought carefully about how I'd answer her. Then, I figured I wouldn't sugar coat it so I answered, "Forever!" She smiled and shrieked "YEAH!" I guess that's a good reaction. I hope the novelty doesn't wear off too quickly. She maybe changing her tune after school starts (on September 15th).

So far, you can check out what I've written by clicking on my other blog here. I'll try maintaining both as best I can but until I manage to juggle my time a bit better, you'll have to make do with what I offer. All the best from the Clements family in Dubai, UAE!

We are HOME!

We are back home in Budapest! This is what we looked like (yes, that is ALL our luggage) at Reagan National airport just before check in.

The trip was great fun and I'll post photos throughout the week. Today we are going to chill, unpack a bit and get ready for our trip to the vineyard tomorrow. Back on Sunday night.

Update - including Mia's injury

It has been ages since I have last updated the blog. We returned from Dubai and then had a very busy weekend filled with bbqs and friends. This past week, I've had two girlfriends have babies, one girlfriend undergo a hysterectomy (it's strange - I'm at that funny in-between age) and a hospital trip with Mia. The fun never ends!

Right now in Budapest we are experiencing unusually cold weather. I'm sure it must be an all time low for Budapest in May. When I went to the gym this morning, my car's outside thermometer registered 6 degrees Celsius!! A few more and this freezing rain could turn to snow!! In mid-May! It's completely unusual. We've started using the fireplace again and are pulling out fleeces and long pants. This is very, very odd. I'm not entirely disappointed as we've had quite a few storms and I love thunderstorms!! Also, we've planted a lot of new grass and also some vegetables and the rain is exactly what they all need to sprout quickly.

Okay, I'm sure you are all wondering what happened with Mia. On Friday, I got a call from the school nurse. The conversation was in 1/2 French and 1/2 Hungarian. So, while all the way across town in Pest, I understood that she needed to be picked up and I should take her for x-rays. Did you know in most other languages the word for x-ray is rontgen after the inventor Wilhelm Rontgen?

Quickly I called my friend who works for Telki and scheduled to meet the orthopedic doctor and x-ray room for about 30 mins after getting Mia from school. The nurse was fine with holding her for the hour it took me to get to school and pick her up. I figured it wasn't life threatening so that eased my mind. It's still never fun to get 'the call' from the school that your child's had an accident.

When I got to the school, I found Mia sitting in the office near the front door drawing and waiting for me. There was another boy, who was apparently sick and waiting to get picked up, next to her. The head master of the school was also there to greet me. I made a very Curt-like crack and asked Mia, 'so, did you get in another fight?' I thought this was very funny but I only got strange looks. I assume the head master either thought I was crazy or didn't understand. Mia just gave me that look a child gives their parents when they are pleading to not be any more embarrassed then they've already been... This is our jobs as parents, isn't it? To embarrass our kids? It toughens their skin...

Seriously, I was happy to see she was still able to smile and she was very relieved to see me. She then apologized for having to pull me out of work. Isn't she so sweet? I told her not to be ridiculous and there was nothing that could have kept me away from coming to get her. I then assessed her injuries and signed a document (in French) explaining that it was her leg AND her arm! She had fallen while playing on the playground.

The head master was very concerned and kind and offered to help me carry Mia out to my car. I told him that it wasn't necessary and told him I'd keep him posted on our doctor's visit.

I was happy to see that there was a very short wait at the clinic and the entire process of consultation, x-rays (of her leg and arm) as well as the casting were all done in less than an hour! The charge to my insurance (if anyone is curious) is 50,000HUF or 225USD. We could have went to a state hospital and had it all go through our National Health cards for no charge but then I probably would have been at the hospital with Mia for 4 - 5 hours, if not overnight. The private clinic method was the best option for us!

So, as you have probably guessed, Mia has a broken arm - or wrist, as her medical report has 'csuklo' written on it. Actually, the doctor that was in the clinic when we got there only spoke very little English. It was adorable as Mia translated most of the conversation between him and I. The English medical report is being sent to me later this week.

Mia was great in the x-ray room too. The x-ray technicians loved that she spoke perfect Hungarian without an accent. This always gets lots of raves and attention as the Hungarians love when foreigners make the effort to learn their language. She was loving the attention and chatting away to them about how the accident happened at school, etc.

Since the break is not terrible and probably due to her youth, her cast is only required to stay on for 3 weeks - assuming all goes well. She was surprisingly excited to get a cast! Her friend in Dubai also has a cast and she's secretly been admiring it... Fortunately, it is her left hand and she is a righty so she has adjusted to it very well. Since her fingers are sticking out of it and her elbow is not covered, she is able to do just about everything. I think she's excited to go to school tomorrow and show it off.

Here are the photos of x-ray time (I got them doing her leg)...


Casting time....

And her smiling face today....
She's managed to do all her usual chores. Here she is below running out to the compost pile with Ali.

Initially I thought having a broken arm is not a big deal in this beautiful warm weather. I am now biting my tongue as the weather has went from summer to early winter. We'll have a challenge tomorrow getting her jacket over her cast but I think we'll find something that will work.

Quick Update

First of all, I overhead Ali asking her daddy several questions earlier this morning. One of which started with, "Dada, when you were Papa's age...." I didn't even listen to the rest as I thought it was so funny. She seemed to even catch herself and then start over with "Dada, when you were a baby... " This one ended with ".... did you go to school?" She comes up with the funniest things.

A few more Ali-isms as she cracks us all up and also amazes us sometimes. Like, the other day, she was looking through one of my design magazines and found a bathroom / home that she seemed to find very attractive. She asked me if we could buy it and I told her that you can't buy a bathroom, per se, but you could buy a home with a bathroom similar or design a bathroom the way you want. She then asked me if we could get a new house with a bathroom like the one in the mag. I was really busy so I just replied with a vague 'maybe'. She then said, "Ma, (this is how she often addresses me) maybe we can find a home with this bathroom and rent it or, if we have enough money, we can buy it" I was surprised my 4 year old knew the difference between rent and buy...

The other cute things that come out of her mouth are 'eleventeen' and instead of kitchen, she pronounces it 'chitchen'... love it!

So, I've been really neglectful to our blog lately. Part of the reason is life, work, travel and guests. We've had sooo many guests. Right now we have Colleen, who was pictured with my nephew below, Dani and Lucy. Dani is my brother's godfather's niece. Does that make sense? She's Australian and her and her Aussie friend, Lucy are traveling around Europe for about 6 months. You gotta love the Aussies and their love and desire for travel. They are both university graduates (one in accounting and one in law) and are really gracious, fun guests. Lucy even helped Mia with her French homework this morning!

Last week, I went to Cyprus with my two wonderful friends, Kim and Nicky. We escaped for 3 nights and had a fantastic 3 days of giggling, catching up and sun lounging. It was a belated birthday present which I adored every minute of...

The kids are all doing well and enjoying all the attention from our numerous visitors. The weather hasn't been too warm but like they say, 'april showers bring may flowers'.

Photos will be coming soon.

Weekend Update

We had such a fantastic weekend! The weather has finally broken and spring has sprung. What a relief. I know many of you are still up to your eyeballs with winter weather but for Hungary, this was a very, very long winter.

Our weekend was packed with fun. Friday was family movie night. Saturday morning was football for T and dance for Mia. Then, we had to buy a new bed for all our guests arriving. Our former guest room bed was given away so now we had to get a new one as our guest room is quite full over the next few months. We accomplished this pretty quickly then went to get Mia, Charlie (T's buddy) and Molly (Ali's BFF) from their home. Mia had went over to their home after dance so that we only had 2 kids while shopping for home furnishings.

The weather was fantastic and the kids all played outdoors. Mia and I went on a long walk (she rode her scooter) with the dogs. She went later on a bike ride with Curt. Then, she played football (sorry, soccer to the Americans) in the backyard with Curt. Both she and T picked out new soccer balls on Wednesday. She is sooo into it and begs Curt regularly to kick with her!

One of the cool things about them picking out their new soccer balls was there were several European countries (printed on the balls) to choose from. They both picked Italia because of Papa! I told them I was partially British but Italia won! We had to write their names on their balls as they both had to have the same one. Mia's even taken hers to school to play with on the playground. This was me as a child. A complete sport nut! I always had one or more of the following with me in my neighborhood as a child: skateboard, bike, tennis racket, football or baseball mitt. The difference with Mia is she too is a sports nut but still has to dress very girlie. It's quite a combination! Check her out on Sunday playing.

On Saturday, we had a full house. I loved watching crazy Ali with crazy Molly. I guess with crazy moms like me and Kim, what else would you expect? They were absolutely hilarious and kept themselves entertained all day!

Check out how goofy they behaved on the trampoline on Saturday!

no idea what they both were doing in this funny photo above

They stripped down to their underpants, had a picnic (crackers, tomatoes and grapes), jumped around, then they put their underpants on their heads (no photo of this), swamped outfits and came inside announcing their newly swapped identities.

They are 2 peas in a pod! Love them!

Additionally, our troops stayed up until midnight on Saturday as we went over to our friends' home for a delicious dinner. It was a great night with a fantastic Norwegian family with 3 children (ages 11, 9 and 6). The kids all clicked (first time for them all to meet as we've only socialized with the parents) so well! The dinner consisted of freshly flown in Norwegian salmon that was grilled on the bbq to perfection!

Sunday lunch was great as we went downtown to TGs for Italian food. We met up with some great friends of ours who we hadn't seen in almost 3 months (they also travel a lot for work). Then, we hit the Szabadsag ter playground that our kids enjoy so much. We sent a few mothers home clenching their hearts after seeing our kids without socks, hats, jackets, etc. It was almost 20 degrees C here yesterday yet their children were all bundled up as if they were expecting a cold frost to rush in!

Have a great weekend everyone.

NOTE

Sorry about the videos that were not working via You Tube. I think it should all be fixed now so check the videos again that you couldn't access earlier.

Thank you for your patience....

Terence-isms

Terence, who will be 9 years old on March 29th, is really into reading. I love that he enjoys it as much as I do and always have. When I was a child, I was always under my blankets in bed with a flashlight and a book. He's becoming similar.

His favorite series of books at the moment is the Horrid Henry collection. From what I understand, Henry is a bit of a menace with a wild imagination and always out on an adventure. Terence loves that each character in the stories has an adjective describing their personality. The adjective matches their name's first letter. For example, 'Perfect Peter' and 'Moody Margaret'.

He gets so absorbed in these books and even laughs out loud which I find so funny. While Curt is in Dubai this week, he and I have been staying up a little later reading every evening. Every so often he has to stop and discuss with me what he is reading. One of his comments last night was especially amusing.

His description of the chapter he was reading was about Horrid Henry's plan to punish parents who made their kids do good things like eat their vegetables, go to bed early, brush their teeth, go to school, etc. Horrid Henry's plan was to put a magic spell on the parents of the world and whenever they made their kids follow the rules they would be catapulted into a piranha filled lake. Terence laughed at Horrid Henry's plan and told me, "Mom, he's not very smart. He must not know that piranhas only eat dead things. They are predators not hunters." I was speechless. I knew he watched a show recently about this topic but found it amazing that he retained the information and then found an appropriate time to pass it on. All I said was, "Really?" He's always teaching me something!

The other great Terence-ism recently was when me and the kids got onto the topic of being able to live forever. We were sort of debating on whether it would be good or bad to live forever. Mia was saying that she wanted daddy to live forever (not sure why but this is what she said). T replied, "Come on..." this is often how he starts a debate. "Come on! Why would anyone want to live forever and see everyone around them that they know and love die?" I stayed silent and just listened to them hash it out. Mia then said, "Well, why hasn't Papa invented a way for people to live forever?" For those of you that don't know, our kids think their Papa (Curt's dad) is a genious who not only is a scientist / engineer but also has superpowers...

Terence replied to Mia's question with, "Papa can't just change someone's DNA" He made a few other comments on this topic that went way over my head. He left both Mia and I at a loss of words. Eventually, Mia and I both agreed with him that having the ability to live forever would not be so fantastic.

Paul Update

I haven't updated any of you on Paul's progress after his horrific car accident. He's now home but his neck is broken. Specifically, he has 3 chipped vertebrae in his neck and lots and lots of pain but no other broken bones. He has trouble moving, laying down, etc as his legs, shoulders, back have all taken a serious pounding.

Anyhow, he said that he is emotional feeling a lot better but the physical pain and discomfort is going to take a long time to mend. He doesn't remember the accident at all. He said his first memory is of me holding his hand and shouting his name. He remembers me talking to him and said that he does remember me asking him if he felt like he was in pieces. He told me that he thought about it and remembers wiggling his toes, fingers and concentrating on what feelings he had in his body. Emotionally, once he did this and realized he wasn't paralyzed or in 'pieces', he felt stronger and was more alert. He concentrated on staying focused and working with the rescue team to get out of the car. He knew at this point that he was going to be okay.

His hospital stay was pretty traumatic and depressing. He was in intensive care for about a week unable to move (or look around to view his surroundings). He said that he was thrilled to get out of there and home to his wife and 2 small children. He's thankful that Curt and I (and Paul) stayed with him.

We wish Paul all the best during his recovery process and hope that it won't be too long or painful of a journey.

Clements' Health Update

Many of you have probably already heard that our little Ali has broken her left hand's ring finger. Her and Mia were playing on Friday afternoon and somehow Ali's finger got in the middle of a collision, bent backwards and broke / dislocated. We took her in for an xray and splint on Saturday. On Monday she returned to meet with the specialist who redid her splint and said that we had to keep it on for 2 weeks. Surprisingly she's getting on okay with it as she is right handed. Bath time and getting dressed is a bit of a challenge - especially getting on her long sleeves and jackets.

On top of having a broken finger, she has just come down with Chicken Pox. When she was 1 year old she was given the vaccination but now since she's gotten them (it's a milder case then what she'd get without a prior vaccination) she won't need a booster. It's just a shame that she has two health issues at once. On top of it, daddy is in China... We have a family joke that whenever I leave or he leaves (not the both of us) someone's health goes south.

Her's a picture of her sleeping 2 nights ago with her little broken finger.

Last night Mia's 4th tooth came out... finally. It was wiggly for a very, very long time! Last night while we were sitting and watching a movie, she screamed out, "It came out!" She's been playing with it for months and finally managed to wiggle it free! She was so excited! Here's a video of her right after she yanked it loose.

We've had a bit of an emotional rollercoaster this weekend. After learning the sad news about an employee being shot in Afghanistan, we went to our Friday night company happy hour only to go home and witness another horrible tragedy.

Let me take 2 steps backwards first. This week in our HQ Budapest office we had 2 days of a relocations conference. We had about 40 relocation consultants from our different offices (ie China, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Bosnia, Poland, etc) in Budapest for a training conference. To help build our team spirit, we finished the week with a company happy hour downtown on Friday night. All visiting employees and Budapest based employees (total of about 100) all met for a very fun evening of drinks and dancing.

We were pleased to have a former employee and very good friend pop in for a short visit / surprise. At 12:30 pm we left in a taxi and took the same route as our friend, Paul Szeman. Within 5 mins we watched his car cross Alkotmany utca and get hit very hard by a taxi causing both vehicles to ricochet and fly through the air. Both of them flipped several times and landed upside down. Our taxi driver immediately stopped (we were within 20-30 meters) and Curt and I jumped out of the car to try and help. Since it happened so quickly and there was so much debris (including a fire hydrant explosion after one of the cars took it out), Curt got confused as to which vehicle belonged to Paul. He ran over to the second vehicle which turned out to be a taxi. He tried to pry off the door to determine if the driver was alive or dead. He didn't manage to get it off but could see that he didn't have his seatbelt on and was sprawled all over. Curt's trousers ended up covered in blood...

While Curt was with the taxi, I laid down next to Paul's car and reached my hand in. Naturally, we both acted without thinking and thought back to how neither of us even looked if there was fire or fuel (ie chance of explosion). If there had been, I don't know if we would have acted differently. I laid on the ground next to Paul's upside down Defender and reached my hand in. Immediately I found Paul's hand which I grasped onto. His car was upside down and he was laying on his back. I assume he didn't have his seatbelt on either as I was reaching my hand in the backseat driver's side window where his hand was sprawled out. I held his hand and remember shouting his name, "Paul! Paul! Paul!" What felt like 10 minutes was realistically only about 30 seconds before I could hear him moan. I asked him if he were okay (of course he wasn't!) and if he could squeeze my hand. I told him I loved him and I told him he had been in an accident and help was on it's way. I just talked and talked and talked without letting my emotions take the better of me. I told him that I wasn't going to leave him and to try and squeeze my hand again. He finally did!! For some reason I asked him if he felt like he were in one piece or in several pieces. I don't know why and in hindsight it probaby wan't the best subject to bring up but I thought I should get as much information as possible before the help arrived. I could hear the sirens getting louder as the fire trucks, police, ambulances all got closer. He replied 'pieces'. I honestly did not think he or the other driver would survive this catastrophe.

By this point Curt had joined my side and was also helping me comfort and talk to Paul. Suddenly we were both being shouted at and being told to get away from the vehicle. I started to argue that I wouldn't leave him but Curt pulled me away. Of course I understand as they had to get to him and help him. I remember seeing chain saws and all sorts of equipment that they were going to use to cut him (and the other driver of the taxi) out of their cars. They were unbelievable and I was amazed at their professionalism, team work, and determination. I think every emergency vehicle and employee in Budapest was at this sight.

When I took a minute to catch my breath, I looked around and noticed about 50 people gathered around watching. I stopped to call home to try and explain to Erika (who was babysitting) that I'd be a while. This was the first point that I lost the plot and started crying. I couldn't speak to her and a nice lady who was out walking her 2 little dogs grabbed the phone and helped me relay my message while her friend handed me a cigarette... At this point it doesn't matter if you smoke or not...

Curt and I gathered our thoughts and our composure and he decided to run back to the party to grab Paul Waller (an employee, long time friend and a best friend to Paul Szeman). I stayed with my taxi driver who tried to keep me calm. We watched them pull Paul out with a neckbrace in place and put him on a backboard. I kept asking my taxi man, Lajos, if he still had his legs. He said yes and said that he had even seen them moving. I just was so thrilled that he was in one piece and still alive! I found the Chief of Police and asked him if we could ride in the ambulance with our friend. This is not something that they allow in Hungary.

Eventually Curt was back by my side with Paul Waller. We learned that both drivers were alive and both appeared to be without any paralysis but may have broken necks or vertebrae (these were the words we understood). They explained that both drivers would be taken to the head trauma center in district 8 and that we should go there to learn more about our friend.

Within minutes we were at the hospital. We arrived shortly after Paul Szeman but before the taxi driver. We watched the taxi driver's ambulance pull up and could see him conscious and in one piece as they wheeled him past us.

Eventually we learned which EMTs brought Paul to the hospital. I convinced Paul W to come over with me to talk with them. They were very kind and also very sad for us. They told me that they were amazed they had both survived and said something that translates into what sounds like, 'They both have been given a second birth'. It was a true miracle.

Paul Waller decided it was time to contact Paul S's wife and brother. He called them both and shared the news and told them it was not life threatening anymore. They were both quickly on their way down to the hospital.

We found the emergency doctor and were relieved that he spoke English and reported to us that they were still undergoing tests but it didn't seem that he had any paralysis but they were still checking on internal bleeding and broken bones. We could hear Paul S screaming in the emergency room and Curt assured me this was a good sign as it meant he was conscious and could feel.

At about 3:30am I went home via taxi while Paul and Curt stayed and waited for Paul S's family and more results.

The outcome is that he is alive and it is a true miracle. He had some bleeding in his brain but they felt they could control it. He also had chipped bones on his vertebrae and maybe a few other breaks and lots and lots of bruises.

While at the scene of the accident I did pull it together to take these 2 short videos.

It made it on all the Hungarian news channels as well as online newspapers like this one. Click on the picture for more photos of his demolished vehicle. The 5th photo is the taxi's vehicle.

Now everyone take a minute to hug a loved one today!

Off for 4 Days

I'm off today to Glasgow with my really great Scottish friend, Kim. We'll be staying with her parents and returning Wednesday. Curt (with the help of Erika, the nanny) will be taking care of the kids.

On Wednesday he is off to Dubai. He departs about an hour before I land so we won't see each other until his return on Saturday.

Home at Last

We have finally returned back to Budapest after our very long, wonderful US trip. We returned on Wednesday on a direct flight from JFK. The kids are all really great flying now so it was pretty easy. We all had our own TVs connected to our chairs to select movies from and even control with pause, fast forward, rewind, etc. They also have their iTouches but it was fun for them to watch some new stuff. Our flight left at 8pm and as many of you know, after the dinner service, the lights all go off for people to sleep. It was about 11:30pm NY time when I finally managed to get them all to sleep. Curt wasn't able to sleep much on the flight due to his allergies. I managed to get about 2 or 3 hours of sleep so that helped us with the jetlag a little bit more.

We landed 1 1/2 hrs early at 10am! We must have had major tailwinds helping us out!

The kids are slowly getting over jetlag. So far it's been late nights up and lots of sleeping in for them. I'm trying to get them on track before it's back to school on Wednesday, Sept 2nd... Wish me luck.

More photos and videos from our trip coming soon.

Some Fav Photos from Indy

We are now in Kansas with Curt's family having a fantastic time. On Thursday, July 9th we drove from my brother's home in Indianapolis to Cincinnati to catch our flight to Kansas City (MCI) airport. We spent our first 2 nights there with Curt's Uncle Mike and Aunt Sally. We all had an enjoyable time catching up with them as well as Curt's Uncle Jim and Aunt Karen and cousin Julie. Kansas City is really growing on me and I particularly love their area in Overland Park. There are great restaurants, shops and culture. If you want to learn more about Kansas City you can read about it at Elle Decor's site which I just came across recently. Also, little fact: Kate Spade is from Kansas City and I believes still maintains a residence. I'm sure there are other amazing talents from Kansas City but since I'm a Kate Spade fan, I liked this one...

As of Saturday, July 11th, we've been enjoying ourselves in Wichita at Curt's parent's home. The temp is hot, however, reaching 100 degrees F daily! Very hot and humid. Yesterday we enjoyed a movie in the cool A/C, indoor go-carting then the YMCA's outdoor pool. Actually, it's more like a waterpark with huge waterslides, a wave pool, kiddie area and lap lanes. It was packed yesterday (Sunday) but we hope it'll be less busy today upon our return.

Below are some of our favorite photos from our fantastic Indy trip and fun time with my brother, Attila, and his family.

These first photos were taken at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. We went with my sister-in-law, Shirley, and 3 of their boys: Logan (12), Brennan (11) and Jaxon (4). It was a fun-filled afternoon. The dinosaur exhibit was great! I have some pretty cool videos that I took on my new Flip camera! I'll be posting them soon.

Digging for dinosaur fossils

There was a section on how glass is blown. The entire ceiling was made of colorful blown glass as you can see from the first photo above. It was beautiful. My 3 nephews laid on this revolving chair to just stare up at it. They had plastic samples of the glass in the making as you can see in T's hand. Jaxon adored his cousin. I love how he's just holding on to him in the above left photo.


And a carousel

One night for dinner we hit the Mayberry Cafe in a town about 20 miles away from my brother's home. It was good all-American food like burgers, steaks, meatloaf, onion rings and - a new one to all of us: fried mac-n-cheese! I could feel my arteries clogging after the first bite of the fried mac-n-cheese!

Bubble time

The kids all got to pick out a toy at the end of our meal at the Mayberry Cafe. I guess the token (for a toy) came with each kid's meal. Bubbles were a popular choice.

In the US

Our journey began on July 2nd. We left Hungary on a Malev flight and flew from Budapest to London Gatwick at 4:30pm. We arrived at Gatwick at about 6pm local time and spent the night at the lovely Sofitel Hotel which is attached to the airport. Unfortunately, I left my Blackberry in the seat pocket in front of me as I was preoccupied with getting my 2 sleeping beauties (Ali and Mia) off the plane. Fortunately it dawned on me early enough - as we were going through passport control - and I was able to get it back thanks to the helpful staff at LGW airport. Honestly, this is one of my favorite airports...

We spent the night in order to break up the journey to the US. Our Delta flight to Cincinnati left early on the 3rd of July. It was 8 1/2 hours and the kids were champions. I think everyone seated around us looked a bit scared when we got on with 3 little kids. During the last hour of the flight as we were getting ready to land I was so pleased to receive compliments from nearby passengers about how well behaved our kids were. I thanked them but asked them nicely to hold the compliment until we had landed as there was still time for it to all backfire :-) Thankfully, it didn't. T and Mia are really great now on planes and can entertain themselves well by drawing, playing (T had his Nintendo DS) or watching movies or listening to songs on their iTouches. It was Ali who had trouble sitting still and also felt a lot of pain in her ears during landing. This happened on the BUD - LGW flight too. It's never really bothered her so much before. She chewed gum, drank water but it still hurt her. She didn't cry and tried to be brave but still sort of wimpered and held her ears...

Once in Cincinnati, we rented a car at Thrifty and drove straight to my brother's home just outside of Indianapolis. The drive was about 2 hours long and the kids were okay until the last 30 mins when they all started to melt down. After quick hugs and hellos we jumped in the pool which helped us all feel better!

4th of July weekend was great - filled with a bbq, lots of hanging out time, swimming and fireworks.

Photos have yet to be uploaded but I expect to get a couple up later today.

A big, big Happy Birthday to Nana! We love you and can't wait to see you next weekend.

More soon...

Out of Touch

Sorry we've been so out of touch lately. I have not been in blog mode...

Life has been busy. Mia is getting ready for her big dance performance on June 7th. She'll be on stage and it'll be a fun day that she's been preparing hard for it. We are really looking forward to it!

On June 6th, Terence has a big football (aka soccer) tournament. He plays for the French league and will be playing the Brits, the Americans and the German in an all day tournament up at the American International School of Budapest. We'll be there cheering him on!

At the same time, I'm filling out the thousands of pages (or so it seems) of school registration documents to get all 3 signed up for 2009 / 2010. That's right - all 3! Even Ali will go to the French school next year.

Must run now. We have a three day weekend in Budapest and are going to meet some friends for Sunday brunch in 30 minutes.

Love to you all... More photos and details coming soon. I promise.

A Great Easter Weekend

Last Saturday was a fab day for us as a family. Since it was Easter weekend the kids had no activities (no soccer for T and no dance for Mia). We woke and had a lazy morning with home made cinnamon rolls which the kids loved and remembered from Nana, Papa and Aunt Lisa's visit during Christmas...

After we went downtown to pick up our lamb legs for Easter dinner from a great Turkish butcher who I think has the best beef and lamb in town. From there we went for a drink and light lunch at one of our favorite cafes at Szabadsag ter. All the kids got yummy milk shakes. Love the girls' similar faces in this photo below...

At 3:30pm we attended the live Mamma Mia production at the Laszlo Papp sportarena. We kept it a surprise from the kids and they were so anxious to find out what it was that we were doing. We entered the arena and they missed all the Mamma Mia signs, t-shirt stands, etc. There weren't many but still it amazed me that they missed all the clues. I think their eyes were just taking in all the people and the huge space... We sat in our fantastic seats and the announcer came on in English welcoming us to the Mamma Mia production (it was a UK group that came to Budapest so it was completely in English). Terence sort of let out a whimper as he's grown very sick of the Mamma Mia movie which has been playing in our home about 3-5 times per week since X-mas. Actually it's probably faded to about 3 - 5 times per month but around X-mas time (the DVD was a present from Santa) the girls were watching it every day!!

The girls were in disbelief. The show was really good. Not the best but very good. Curt and I were spoiled and saw a fantastic production of Mamma Mia in London when I was pregnant with Terence about 8 1/2 years ago and it was incredible! I have a feeling the traveling group isn't as fantastic as the real deal... But, the kids loved it. T even enjoyed it though he was pretending not to. The last 3 ABBA songs the entire audience stood, danced and sang along which the girls LOVED!

We were home by about 7pm and had a nice quiet Saturday evening in preparation for the Easter bunny's visit followed by a housefill of guests (we entertained 8 adults and about 11 kids) in the beautiful sunshine!

Off to Slovakia in 3 hours

Today, straight from school, we will head out on the highway... look for adventure... Actually, we'll leave the Harleys behind and instead get in our big Discovery packed to the rim with skis, boots, helmuts, winter wear, vino, games, etc. We are going to Tale Slovakia to ski for the weekend. We are meeting up with 5 other families, totally (prepare yourselves) 12 adults and ...... 15 kids! It's going to be a non-stop party train and we are looking forward to catching up with some friends that we haven't seen in a while - including the Fekete family who are visiting from Moscow; the McGanns back from Florida; the van Begins who are now residing just outside of Bratislava; the Tatrallyays who are now located in Bratislava and the Molnars who live in Budapest with us. I hope I didn't forget anyone. Just to wish you all a Bon Weekend. Check back Monday or Tuesday when we are back for the snaps, videos, stories, etc.

x o x o